


Storm Night

by EndlessMidnightSky



Series: Of skateboards and hearing aids [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Deaf Character, Gen, Guns For Hire AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 17:19:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3658695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessMidnightSky/pseuds/EndlessMidnightSky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A plague cloud storm in Gulch, Adaptive wakes one of the Ai family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storm Night

**Author's Note:**

> Written by me for me because of me

He’s not sure what wakes him.

If it was a dream, he doesn’t remember it. It could be the storm, but he can’t hear it. There’s a tenseness that comes to the house whenever a storm blows in, the strong walls holding steadfast against the winds and chemicals. He can feel it now, even from his bed.

After a moment, he reaches out, fumbling in the darkness for the two pieces of metal and plastic he knows are on his bedside table. They’re always there when they’re not with him, they’re strictly off limits in the prank wars that occasionally break out amongst the family.

Finding them, he sits up in bed, slips the aids into his ears with  the ease of years of practice.

The storm is howling and cursing around the house as it tries to get in, tries to break down the door and tear through the windows . Even through the thick walls and glass, even through the partial deafness that comes even with his aids in, he can hear the battering the building is taking.

He gets up, small feet meeting the floor as he pads over to the window where he slips his head and torso under the curtain. If he opens the curtains, he might wake the room’s other occupant and he needs all the sleep he can get.

The house across the road is invisible, the road itself only visible near the house but there’s even points of misty purple in the darkness that mark where the light from the street lamps is struggling to break through. Every now and then, lightning flashes will illuminate the clouds and make brief shapes of dark houses before vanishing again. The clouds are roiling – he learnt that word only a few weeks ago – and tumbling through the street and he knows it’s the same all over the city. No one will be out tonight.

‘Theta?’

He jumps and slips out from behind the curtain, turning round to find a dark mass sitting up in the other bed.

‘Meg! I-I’m sorry, I just woke up and-’

Omega gets out of bed and is over to him in a few long strides .

‘Hey, it’s okay, kiddo,’ he says, crouching down so they’re at the same level. ‘Storm wake you?’

‘I don’t know,’ he admits. ‘Didn’t mean to wake you, I was just looking.’

Omega picks him up and Theta latches on easily , wrapping himself around his older brother’s torso. There are some advantages to being small and light for his age.

Holding Theta with one arm, Omega draws the curtain back with the other and they both look out into the street.

‘Looks like school will be off tomorrow,’ Omega says.

‘Work too?’

‘Maybe. If it is, we can do something fun together. See if we can drag Delta from homework and Gamma from his computer for a while. The others will be up for it.’

Theta smiles and curls more into his brother’s arms. The house is secure, but now he feels safe.

They stay like that for a while , watching the storm and the lightning and hearing the angry winds until Theta yawns and feels Omega smile against his forehead.

‘Alright, squirt, back to bed,’ he says, closing the curtain again and carrying Theta back to his bed.

He sets him down and Theta presses a quick kiss to his cheek before settling back down and taking his hearing aids out again. The storm falls silent, the house remains strong.

Omega ruffles his hair and then his silhouette is gone, heading back to his own bed .

Theta pulls the covers up again and closes his eyes. The storm will probably still be raging tomorrow, but that’s okay. It won’t last forever.

 


End file.
